Thursday, March 20, 2014

Minnesota Art Schools - Reviewing Minnesota's Best Art Colleges

Minnesota is a large and beautiful state with a reputation for personality and creativity. From Garrison Keillor's mythical Lake Woebegone to the work of Minnesota state natives F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Judy Garland and Charles Schultz, the state has long contributed to the arts in the America. Opportunities for creative work in Minnesota are growing, whether you are interested in becoming an interior designer, museum curator, advertising art director or fine artist.
From its famous 10,000 Lakes to its major urban and business center in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, Minneapolis provides creative inspiration. Minneapolis boasts the 11-day long Minneapolis Fringe Festival, the largest non-juried performing and visual arts festival in the nation. The state also houses museums, galleries and design firms. Minnesota offers a variety of settings and institutions for individuals committed to pursing studies in arts-related careers.
Minnesota has four art schools accredited by the National Association of Schools for Art and Design (NASAD) including two small specialized design schools: the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, with some 703 enrolled students (est. 1886), and the College of Visual Arts (est. 1948) with an enrollment of 200. Minnesota State University in Mankato and Minnesota State University in Moorhead both offer Departments of Art with programs accredited by NASAD as well as by the Council for Interior Design. Minnesota State and the Minnesota College of Art and Design also offer distance learning options through their online programs.
Minnesota College of Art and Design (MCAD) is located in Minneapolis, in a neighborhood adjacent to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts-the Twin Cities pre-eminent art museum, housed in a neo-classical landmark building designed by McKim, Mead and White in 1915. The College offers a range of degrees. The Bachelor of Fine Arts program allows students to choose from 13 different majors in fine art, design and media. Some the school's more unusual majors include Furniture Design, Comic Art and a major called Print Paper Book. The BFA program offers a balance of two-thirds studio classes and one-third liberal arts, providing a strong pre-professional focus.
The Minnesota College of Art and Design also offers a Bachelor of Science degree that centers on bridging the gap between business executives and creative staff. This program is recommended for students who are both visual and verbal and who are interested in applying their analytical and entrepreneurial skills to working in arts-related fields. Students participate in internships in art agencies, design firms and web development companies. The school's Masters of Fine Arts in visual studies follows a mentor-based approach combining studio work with seminars and inter-disciplinary experience.
Minnesota State offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees offering studio specializations in ceramics, drawing, fibers, graphic design, painting, photography printmaking and sculpture. Minnesota State offers an alternative for students looking to study art in the context of a large university with a range of educational resources.
Minnesota State Mankato enrolls 14,500 students on its 303 acre campus located 85 miles southwest of Minneapolis. Similarly, the University Of Minnesota Department Of Art in Minneapolis offers a Bachelor of Arts Program encompassing training in studio arts as well as history of art and art criticism. The school's selective Bachelors in Fine Arts program is available for students applying at the end of their sophomore year and looking to prepare for a specialized art career or graduate study.
Other liberal arts schools in Minnesota offer bachelor's degrees in art including St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, where students can choose in emphasis in graphic design, 3-d media, or integrated media. Independent Arts institutes, such as the College of Visual Arts, focus on individualized learning an art-making community and boast an integrated curriculum focused on preparing students to become professional artists.

Famous Art Galleries

Art galleries are the perfect settings for exhibiting art, generally visual art such as paintings, sculptures, and photography. Basically, art galleries feature a variety of art styles including contemporary and traditional fine art, glass art, art prints, and animation art. Art galleries are dedicated to the promotion of emerging artists. These galleries provide a platform for them to display their works along with the works of nationally and internationally renowned artists.
The U.S. has a wealth of famous art galleries. Many small towns in the U.S. boast of an art gallery. The High Museum of Art, Alleged Gallery, Henry Art Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Agora Gallery, Rosalux Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, The Alaska House Gallery, and Anchorage Museum of History and Art are some of the famous art galleries in the United States. Today, there are online art galleries exhibiting original artwork.
Many famous art galleries display regional pieces of art such as African art, American art, Indian art, and European art, along with folk art, modern and contemporary art, and photography. These galleries collect, exhibit, and preserve the works of art for the coming generations. Many famous art galleries strive to entertain and educate their regional, national, and international audiences. Some famous art galleries specialize in particular areas such as portraits. A good number of famous art galleries are owned and operated by government.
Most famous art galleries provide an opportunity for visitors to purchase outstanding artwork. Also, they organize several art-related activities such as music concerts and poetry readings for children and adults. Art galleries organize seminars and workshops conducted by renowned artists. Committed to excellence in both art and service, most famous art galleries offer you a rich, unforgettable experience.

Abstract Arts & Abstract Paintings - A Panoramic Vista Cultivated With Mystery, Thrived on Veracity

FOREWORD
I remember a while back, when I was faced with a very pressing situation requiring my instant attention. I was being interviewed live, on a major television station at prime time, along with showing a series of my slides in connection to the opening of an art exhibit. As soon as they wired me up, and situated me on stage, and only a couple minutes before going live, the very charming gentleman, who was to interview me, whispered to me the following: "I have no idea what to ask you, what do you suggest?" I said, no problem, if you ask me only 3 simple questions, I will handle the rest. He was relieved, and quickly jotted down the questions. The green light came on, we went on live, and wrapped up a flawlessly smooth and successful interview. Off camera, the crew came on the stage with big smiles, and acknowledged both of us; but they praised the interviewer, for surprising them as an art connoisseur!
DEFINING AESTHETICS
Aesthetics as a set of principles and branch of philosophy deals with questions concerning beauty and artistic experiences. As far as our general understanding of it is concerned it is a highly nebulous field, subjected to tremendous degree of misinterpretation, particularly in the field of abstract art. In any field of humanities where less accurately is known about that field and its principles have not been precisely formulated, the more authoritarian the field becomes. In the field of arts, with no exact fundamentals accurately developed, the techniques and approaches are wide open for the artists to imagine, explore and create their art.
The artist is also subjected to the "laws" of commerce, where various schools of divergent opinions begin to "teach" the artist "how" to be an artist and paint a certain way, citing the field's critics galore as she listens with an open jaw in lieu of reason. The "authorities," in the field of visual arts, most of whom have never painted any paintings themselves but are very "fluid" and "cultured" by having memorized a few standard opinions and artistic works and projects of humanitarian nature, analyze the paintings for the artist every step of the way, each time the artist presents a piece of her art for a critique, mainly to discover what's wrong with her art and how she should fix it according to these "professors's" brand of "expertise."
I admit to a tad of generalization here for making a point; but does any of this ring a true bell for you? Can you think of an artist you know who is or has been on this ship? I lived and survived through it all, trusting and believing that there had to be a logical and more nurturing way to free imaginative impulses so that the artist could paint as freely as he wanted. Something within me, was telling me, that something was inherently not quite right with the constructive criticisms that were to "teach" us how to view our own world of art, through the eyes of the "critics," excuse me, the professors. I had viewed this "school of thought" as an authoritarian method of teaching that smothered the thoughts, emotions, or efforts of the artist, but could not quite articulate the problem I was sensing at the time. I discovered later, that this mechanism of controlling thought through teaching, was only one of the elements in our society, which inherently brings about the suppression of the arts that stifles the creative impulses of the artists at the expense of the whole culture.
Artists are often "accused" of having their heads up in the clouds, and living within an unreal world of imagination. This brings about the necessity of taking a good and thorough look at just how reality bites. Plowing through several fields of study in search of a tool to measure the aesthetics and the creation processes can leave us empty handed, until we splurge into the field of philosophy to examine our thoughts and reasoning.
THE ART OF THINKING AND REASONING
Thinking and reasoning is a social activity for most people. They require the engagement of external forces as the individual is as much a part of society as the society is a part of the individual. From the moment of birth, the social labyrinth of customs, beliefs, languages, values, religions, politics, and other traditional ideas are all well positioned to mold the child into the image of those who the child is surrounded with, and it is thoroughly based upon faith and belief. So masterfully the operation is instilled into the society as social heredity that even science has often mistaken it as being genetic.
English philosopher and author Francis Bacon (1561-1626), and another English philosopher and mathematician Issac Newton (1642-1727), and others have developed ways of thinking and reasoning that requires a fact in order to be proven must be measured, sensed or experienced. And when we thrust this into the realm of mind and spirit we find our willingness reduced in accepting facts based upon faith or belief.
For this reason, in appreciating life, and creating anything within it such as art, looking for answers and solutions exterior to our own sentient qualities, intellects or experiences is to lose concept of our own truth, values and individuality. And the artist, very often, bears the brunt of this philosophy of "independent thinking" and frequently subjected to criticism by those who have a firm grip on the traditions of status quo.
But the artist moves on, knowing where the roots of criticism lie, and reasons that people who resort to "criticism" operate in the absence of true understanding, and since no knowledge can exist in the absence of understanding, there we arrive at the presence of "ignorance." Thus, knowing the basis and the mechanism behind criticism, often serves as a tremendous source of empowerment and consolation for the artist to continue with his art on the grounds of certainty and knowledge of her art and transcend through the highest echelons of culture called: aesthetics!
Bacon had come to the conclusion that no field of study by itself is sufficient in the absence of another form of discipline exterior to it to align and coordinate it in the direction of its goal. We can elaborate further that it is not possible to walk a path aright in the absence of defining its destination. Therefore, to stay clear off the grounds of myths, mysticism and superficial approaches, we can take a look and see how the arts can be best served by defining its goal under the broad umbrella of philosophy that embraces all the arts, sciences and humanities.
Just as it is impossible to have a full view of a countryside by sitting on one of its boulders under a tree, every field of endeavor, to be fully understood, must be viewed and analyzed from a ground much higher than where it germinates. Thus, in the field of visual art's, we cannot look at an abstract painting's isolated data out of context without a consideration of its existence within the scope of a life that contains the art. Bacon say, that would be to use a candle to light a room that is illuminated with daylight.
ART IS COMMUNICATION
We all enjoy and desire a pleasant conversation with our associates, friends and family. But when we look, and inspect our environment, we notice that the great majority of our population, have difficulty with communication. A two way communication takes place, when we can freely initiate our thoughts or ideas to one another, acknowledge each other and continue this interaction, back and forth, by continuing with the sharing of our thoughts and ideas, very much similar to a friendly game of tennis; where the return of the ball, is dependent upon the quality of the serve.
There are times when we notice a break in communication, when either one of the parties, in its turn, fails to acknowledge and originate a thought or an impulse back, to continue with the conversation, or to bring about an optimum conclusion.
The people having these difficulties with origination, are generally accustomed to prepackaged amusements, such as a weather disaster, or an incident or story relayed by a coworker. They get very low on originating communication on their own, inspired by their own imagination; and they become somewhat vexed, when faced with an "imaginative conversationalist." This is either through their upbringing and cultural environment, or their education.
Origination is very important to bring about a communication. To this degree, these people communicate mainly regarding subjects that are handed to them by external sources. They see a news story, they talk about it; they get a call about a family affair, they talk about it. They wait for an exterior circumstance to bring about an interaction, otherwise they do not engage by "creating" a communication. They either have a compulsively irresistible urge toward doing something, or inhibited and behave awkward and unnatural in communicating. If they manage to engage, they often turn sharply, towards derailment of the dialogue, and bring about a good degree of resentment, ill will and unwanted conclusions.
The people who do not originate, or do not engage imaginatively, are inherently dependent upon others to give them primal reasons to engage in a conversation; this is due to being endowed with very little imagination. As a result, we can conclude, that a pleasant and engaging conversation, requires the participation of two imaginative minds, with similar endowment of creative impulses, to mutually create the art of communication.